Coin vault

ABSTRACT

The front housing of the coin vault is attached to the cash drawer by way of an extra security member which serves as an additional deterrent against a thief successfully breaking into the vault. In addition, the extra security member may be anchored easily and reliably to the housing and provides a rugged means for threadably receiving screws for attaching the housing to the cash drawer.

United States Patent 1 91 Schmitt Oct. 29, 1974 COIN VAULT 3,538,724 11 1970 Dauenbaugh 70/86 Inventor: Donald E. Schmi, Rockford, m 3,738,134 6/1973 Hall 70/86 [73] Assignee: Reed Industries, Inc., Rockford, Ill. Primary Examiner-Albert G. Craig, Jr.

Attorney, Agent, or FirmWolfe, Hubbard, Leydig, [22] Filed. Oct. 30, 1973 voit & 05am, Ltd [21] Appl. No.: 410,980

[57] ABSTRACT [52] US. Cl. 70/86, 70/417, 232/15, The front housing of the coin vault is attached to the 312/333 cash drawer by way of an extra security member [51] Int. Cl. E05b 65/46, A47b 88/04 which serves as an additional deterrent against a thief [58] Field of Search 70/85, 86, 417; 232/1 D, successfully breaking into the vault. In addition, the 232/15; 312/330, 333 extra security member may be anchored easily and reliably to the housing and provides a rugged means for [56] References Cited threadably receiving screws for attaching the housing UNITED STATES PATENTS to the cash drawer- 3,276,835 10/1966 Hall 312/333 2 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures mtwz' PATENTED HUT 2 9 I974 3. 44.144 sum ear 2 PATENTEfinm 29 I974 com VAULT BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a coin vault of the type used with a coin-operated machine to receive coins deposited into a coin chute associated with the machine. Such a coin vault usually comprises a removable cash drawer for receiving the coins, one or more locking bolts for locking the cash drawer within a meter box or the like, a lock cylinder projecting forwardly from the cash drawer and adapted to receive a key for locking and unlocking the bolts, and a generally dish shaped housing which is located at the front of the cash drawer andsurrounds and protects the lock cylinder. In many vaults of this type, the various parts are held together by fasteners such as screws which extend through the cash drawer, the locking bolts and a mounting plate for the lock cylinder and which are threaded into the dishshaped housing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION One of the aims of the present invention is to provide a new and improved coin vault which possesses better security and is more difficult to break into than prior vaults of the same general character.

A further aim is to provide the housing with comparatively rugged means which receive the attaching screws and which may be anchored to the housing in a simpler and more reliable manner than has been the case with prior vaults.

In brief, the invention resides in the provision of unique extra security means, preferably in the form of a single-piece member, disposed within and welded rigidly to the housing and formed with threaded holes for receiving the attaching screws. If a thief succeeds in prying or flame-cutting the front housing off of the cash drawer, he then is faced with the extra security member, which prevents easy access to the cash drawer even after removal or partial destruction of the housing. The presence of the extra security member fre-Q quently is sufficient to discourage the thief from making further efforts to invade the vault or similar vaults in the same area.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will become more apparent fromthe following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT As shown in the drawings for purposes of illustration, the invention is embodied in a coin vault of the type frequently used in conjunction with coin-operated machines such as coin-operated washers and dryers. The

vault includes a cash drawer 11 housed within a meter box 13 (shown partially in FIG. 1) which also supports a coin chute (not shown) in overlying relationship with the cash drawer so that coins deposited into the chute fall into and are collected within the drawer. A typical installation of a vault and a chute within a meter box is disclosed in Clay et al, United States application Ser. No. 355,331, filed Apr. 30, I973 and assigned to the same assignee as the present invention.

In the present instance, the cash drawer 11 is made of steel and includes an upright front wall 14 (FIG. 2) which supports mechanism for removably locking the cash drawer within the meter box 13. Herein, the locking mechanism includes apair of plate-like locking bolts 15 disposed along the front side of the front wall 14. When the bolts are shifted to locking positions, their edges project beyond the edges of the front wall 14 and latch against the inside of the front panel of the meter box 13 to prevent removal of the drawer from the box. To lock and unlock the bolts, a lock cylinder 16 is attached to a flat mounting plate 17 which is disposed in faceto-face relation with the front sides of the bolts. When a key (not shown) is inserted into the cylinder and turned, a disc 19 associated with the cylinder is rotated to cause lugs 20 on the disc to cam against the edges of notches 21 in the bolts and move the latter between their locked and unlocked positions. The disc fits within a hole 23 in the front wall 14 of the cash drawer, the bolts 15 are sandwiched between the disc and the mounting plate 17, and the lugs project forwardly into and are accommodated within arcuate slots 24 formed through the mounting plate.

To protect the lock cylinder 16 and to prevent access to the locking bolts 15, a substantially dish-shaped housing 25 surrounds the lock cylinder and is attached to the front wall 14 of the cash drawer 11. The housing preferably is made of hardened steel and includes an upright front wall 26 and rearwardly extending top, bottom and sidewalls 27, 28, 29 and 30 (FIGS. 2 to 5) formed integrally with and extending rearwardly from the front wall, the rear edges 31 of the top, bottom and side walls defining the rim of the dish-shaped housing. To hold thevarious parts in assembled relationship, threaded fasteners such as screws 33 (FIG. 2) extend through holes 34 in the front wall 14 of the cash drawer 11, through elongated slots 35 in the locking bolts 15, through holes 36 in the mounting plate 17 and are threadably connected to the housing 25. The heads of the screws are located on the rear side of the front wall 14 and thus access to the heads cannot be gained unless the cash drawer is unlocked and removed.

Attempts are frequently made to break into the coin vaults of machines in coin-operated laundries since such laundries for the most part are left unattended for long periods of time. To discourage drilling of the lock cylinder 16, a hardened cup-shaped spinner 37 (FIG. 2) is telescoped over the front end of the cylinder and is urged against the front wall 26 of the housing 25 by a coiled compression spring 39 which is telescoped over the cylinder. Often, however, a thief will attempt to gain access to the cylinder and/or the bolts 15 by prying the housing 25 loose from the cash drawer 11 or by attempting to cut through the housing with an acetylene torch or the like.

In accordance with the present invention, an extra security member 40 is built into the housing 25 and serves to prevent a thief from gaining easy access to the lock cylinder 16 and bolts even if the thief is successful in prying off or cutting through the housing. Upon unexpectedly encountering the extra security member, the thief may become discouraged by the inability to gain ready access to the cash drawer 11 and decide that the time and effort required to break into the vault 10 and other vaults in the laundry present too much risk and will abandon his attempt. Moreover, the extra security member is used to advantage to provide a rugged and reliable means by which the attaching screws 33 may be threadably connected to the housing 25.

In the present instance, the extra security member 40 is made from a single piece of l2-gage steel and includes a substantially flat and centrally located plate 41 (FIGS. 2 and 3) which is disposed face-to-face against the rear side of the front wall 26 of the housing 25. Formed integrally with opposite side margins of the plate 41 and disposed on opposite sides of the lock cylinder 16 are wings 43 (FIGS. 2 and 5) which extend rearwardly to a location adjacent the rim 31 of the housing. A rearwardly facing flange 44 is formed integrally with the rear margin of each wing and extends laterally toward the adjacent side wall 29, 30 of the housing. The wings and the flanges substantially span the vertical space between the top and bottom walls 27 and 28 of the housing and yet the wings are spaced laterally from one another to accommodate the lock cylinder 16.

ln order to anchor the extra security member 40 to the housing 25, four spot welds 45 (FIGS. 3 to 5) are placed between the top and bottom walls 27 and 28 and the upper and lower edges of each wing 43. By virtue of their location, the welds may be easily formed and, once formed, establish a comparatively rugged and reliable connection between the housing and the extra security member.

Advantageously, the flanges 44 of the extra security member 40 are formed with four threaded holes 46 which are located adjacent the corner of the housing and which threadably receive the ends of the screws 33 in order to attach the housing to the cash drawer 11. The ends of the screws are disposed within the dead air spaces (see FIG. 5) located between the flanges 44 and the side walls 29 and 30 and thus tend to be insulated from the housing so as to be less susceptible to damage by heat applied to the housing.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that the extra security member may be easily attached to the housing 25 by the welds and provides a rugged means by which the screws 33 may be attached to the housing. If a thief is successful in prying away the housing 25 by breaking the welds 45 and/or in melting or cutting through the welds with heat, the extra security member 40 remains attached to the screws 33 and thus the thief is confronted with the need to perform still another time-consuming operation before he can gain access to the cash drawer 11. In some instances, this will be sufficiently discouraging to the thief that he will abandon his efforts. Thus, the extra security member provides an additional deterrent against theft as well as serving as a reliable means for attaching the housing to the cash drawer.

I claim as my invention:

1. A coin vault comprising a cash drawer having an upright front wall, locking bolts disposed adjacent the front side of said front wall, a mounting plate located adjacent the front sides of said bolts, a lock cylinder attached to and projecting forward from said mounting plate and adapted to receive a key for moving said bolts between locked and unlocked positions, and a generally rectangular and dish-shaped housing located forwardly of said mounting plate and surrounding said cyl inder, said housing having an upright front wall and having rearwardly extending top, bottom and side walls whose rear edges define a rim, the improvement in said coin vault comprising, an extra security member for use in attaching said bolts, said mounting plate and said housing to the front wall of said cash drawer, said member including a generally flat plate lying against the rear side of the front wall of said housing and located between the side walls thereof, wings formed integrally with and extending rearwardly from the side margins of said flat plate, means rigidly welding said wings to the top and bottom walls of said housing, flanges formed integrally with and projecting from the rear margins of said wings and toward said side walls and being located adjacent'said rim, threaded holes formed through said flanges adjacent the corners or said housing, and fasteners extending through said front wall of said cash drawer, said bolts and said mounting plate and threaded into said holes to attach said bolts, said mounting plate and said housing to said cash drawer.

2. A coin vault comprising a cash drawer having an upright front wall, a locking bolt disposed adjacent said front wall, a lock cylinder projecting forwardly from said front wall and adapted to receive a key for moving said bolt between locked and unlocked positions, and a generally dish-shaped metal housing located forwardly of said bolt and surrounding said cylinder, the improvement in said coin vault comprising, extra security means for use in attaching said housing to the front wall of said cash drawer, said means including a pair of substantially flat and rearwardly facing flanges located within said housing near the rim thereof and on opposite sides of said cylinder, means rigidly welding said flanges to said housing, holes formed through said flanges, and fasteners extending through the front wall of said cash drawer and extending into said holes to anchor said housing to said cash drawer. 

1. A coin vault comprising a cash drawer having an upright front wall, locking bolts disposed adjacent the front side of said front wall, a mounting plate located adjacent the front sides of said bolts, a lock cylinder attached to and projecting forward from said mounting plate and adapted to receive a key for moving said bolts between locked and unlocked positions, and a generally rectangular and dish-shaped housing located forwardly of said mounting plate and surrounding said cylinder, said housing having an upright front wall and having rearwardly extending top, bottom and side walls whose rear edges define a rim, the improvement in said coin vault comprising, an extra security member for use in attaching said bolts, said mounting plate and said housing to the front wall of said cash drawer, said member including a generally flat plate lying against the rear side of the front wall of said housing and located between the side walls thereof, wings formed integrally with and extending rearwardly from the side margins of said flat plate, means rigidly welding said wings to the top and bottom walls of said housing, flanges formed integrally with and projecting from the rear margins of said wings and toward said side walls and being located adjacent said rim, threaded holes formed through sAid flanges adjacent the corners or said housing, and fasteners extending through said front wall of said cash drawer, said bolts and said mounting plate and threaded into said holes to attach said bolts, said mounting plate and said housing to said cash drawer.
 2. A coin vault comprising a cash drawer having an upright front wall, a locking bolt disposed adjacent said front wall, a lock cylinder projecting forwardly from said front wall and adapted to receive a key for moving said bolt between locked and unlocked positions, and a generally dish-shaped metal housing located forwardly of said bolt and surrounding said cylinder, the improvement in said coin vault comprising, extra security means for use in attaching said housing to the front wall of said cash drawer, said means including a pair of substantially flat and rearwardly facing flanges located within said housing near the rim thereof and on opposite sides of said cylinder, means rigidly welding said flanges to said housing, holes formed through said flanges, and fasteners extending through the front wall of said cash drawer and extending into said holes to anchor said housing to said cash drawer. 